How to properly back up a save?

[DeathOfTime]

I have recently become aware that most my system for manually backing up saves is flawed. What would be a effective, efficient, reliable system?

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Long Version (Kinda):
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Currently I am backing up saves. I either backup the entire "saves" folder, or a single save in the "saves" subfolder when dealing with a regular install.

When I am backing up a server I backup the world folder, and some of the files in the servers root folder if I believe they somehow effect the save (for example "server.properties"). I also save the original copy of the server pack.

I name all these backups with long involved names (for example "1.7.10_Regrowth-Narnia-20150831_1443CST-0.8.0.zip". To make it easier for me to tell one file from another. I just got done redoing this part of my backup system. My old way of naming the backups was based on my usual file naming system, and didn't work very well.

For the fun of it, I recently erased my only hard drive (installing Ubuntu is the most reliable method I have found to do this. Though it might not be the best out there, or even that good a method.) Then did a full re-install of windows 10. After that I restored my backups to the hard drive. Then I re-installed a minecraft launcher and restored the backed up saves to its instances.

When I loaded one of those save I was reminded that the world save file doesn't store all of the data for that save. When I found the mini-map mapping the spawn area, and all my way-points gone. All my game option settings were also lost.

This has given me curiosity on what is the proper (and possibly efficient) way to backup a save manually.

 

[redsector]

- Minimap data, including waypoints, is usually stored client-side. Journeymap, for example, stores all its data in an appropriately named "journeymap" subfolder within the minecraft client directory. I haven't used any other map mods in ages, but I'm sure it's not too hard to figure out where they put their stuff.
- Game option settings including keybinds are stored in options.txt, also found in said client directory.

Just save those folders/files along with the worldfile. There are other folders you might want to include, such as "screenshots" and "resourcepacks" (if they exist), which store, uh, your saved screenshots and resource packs, respectively.

 

[DeathOfTime]

- Minimap data, including waypoints, is usually stored client-side. Journeymap, for example, stores all its data in an appropriately named "journeymap" subfolder within the minecraft client directory. I haven't used any other map mods in ages, but I'm sure it's not too hard to figure out where they put their stuff.
- Game option settings including keybinds are stored in options.txt, also found in said client directory.

Just save those folders/files along with the worldfile. There are other folders you might want to include, such as "screenshots" and "resourcepacks" (if they exist), which store, uh, your saved screenshots and resource packs, respectively.

I have added those to my notes for later backups. Thanks.

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This is a paste of my current notes:
File Naming Code Key:
MCv.........Minecraft Version
Modpack.....Modpack Name("Vanilla" for unmodded minecraft)
World.......World Name ("saves" if backing up entire save folder)
YYYY........Year (in four digit format. ex. 2015)
HH..........Hour (24 hour format)
mm..........Minute
TZ..........Timezone
Modpv.......Modpack Version
.zip........(compressed file type)(automtically added extension)
Server......spicifies that it is the original server files

World Save Backup:
....MCv_Modpack-World-YYYY_HHmmTZ-ModPv.zip

Original Server Files:
....MCv_Server-Modpack-YYYY_HHmmTZ-ModPv.zip

Server World Save Backup:
....MCv_Modpack-World-YYYY_HHmmTZ-ModPv.zip


Folders and files to include in backup (if they exists)
[World] (name and path are different (the main save))
options.txt (client file)
servers.dat (client file)
eula.txt (server file)
ops.json (server file)
server.properties(server file)
usercache.json (server file)
usernamecache.json (server file)
whitelist.json (server file)
[journeymap] (client folder)

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I am wanting to know what files and folders to keep when doing a manual backup. I know that there are some errors in the list of files I backup though. I did a paste of my backup notes to make it easier for others to know the system I use. So that if it needs any editing or completely redone they might tell me.

 

[GreenZombie]

Aromabackup.
That is all.

 

[DeathOfTime]

Aromabackup.
That is all.

Aroma Backup saves only the world folder. It works alright for what it does. It is completely useless, and at times gets in the way of my backups. When I want to backup the entire instance I have to delete the backups folder. Usually delete the saves folder too though. The less that is in the instance backup the better. All I really need for that are the files that are needed for that modpack to run. I may not know exactly what to backup when, I do know though that backing up everything every time gives a unneeded level of redundancy. So just popping the entire instance into a folder every time I wanted a backup of a world would lead to using a lot of disk space for no reason and just using what is in the aromabackup's backup folder wouldn't be nearly enough to restore a save file. Especially if the instance or install it is related to are destroyed.

Edit:
I don't know if my punctuation is off or what. I just can't think of how to word the part on AromaBackup to properly get across what I am meaning.

I like AromaBackup. It is a great fall back for when MCedit doesn't fix the save problems I have had in the past. It also has many other uses. It just doesn't work for the long term backups I like to make sometimes.